In the future, if I do need extra staff I will recruit via CVs and interviews through the selection and process method, the job of selling cupcakes is not a highly skilled job, as long as the employee is friendly and energetic they will be able to promote sales to the customers of the business. They will need at least a Level 3. The Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety in Catering covers supervisory management, avoiding contamination, regulating temperature control and implementing food safety procedures. A Level 3 Award in Food Safety Supervision for Retail is aimed at individuals with responsibility for supervising staff involved in the handling of food products. A Level 4 Award in Managing Food Safety in Catering is designed for managers of people who handle food. It covers aspects of food hygiene and development of food management systems.
When hiring staff in the future I will have to set up training to have the best possible interest in the employee’s health and safety. The training will be minimal, the factors of fire regulations in the premises, the safety of dealing with electricity when plugging in the till and fridge, handling the oven, and using kitchen utensils correctly.
When legally planning Human resources I would need to consider the minimum age limits and wage requirements, issue a contract of written terms, avoid any type of discrimination, have in mind and be guided by the Health and Safety at Work regulations and keep all payroll records.
Customer service
Firstly my staff will need to be friendly, well informed and efficient otherwise customers are kept waiting and are not given relevant information. The merchandise that is sold in the store should reflect the needs of the customer and be priced appropriately. Shelves need to be well stocked and orders placed when stocking is low. Items that are passed sell date will be removed immediately, however this isn’t relevant to my business as most of the cupcakes will be fresh.
The premises need to be clean and tidy and safe for the staff and customers. Equipment such as fridges, tills and shelves need to be in good working order and well maintained or food might go bad. Also, items might get damaged or transactions might be inaccurate or delayed. New technology needs to be investigated and installed to keep the store up to date and efficient. Customers need to be able to see where the items they want are situated, so good signposting is important to my business. There is a lot to think about in the quest to ensure good, quality customer service is offered to the customer.
Example
Physical Resources
These include the physical premises from which the business operates, which might be leased or owned by the business. Machinery, raw materials and component parts are needed in the manufacturing process. Computers, Printers, furniture, and other similar equipment are required to run an efficient office. Tills display units and cabinets are needed in a retail outlet. All of these physical resources need to be bought or leased. They need to be maintained and replaced when obsolete. People need to be maintained and replaced when different pieces of equipment in order that they are used to their maximum potential. Physical resources are the assets of the business. Often, the business will pay for it assets over time out of the profits the business generates. As this changes into
Most assets depreciate over time as their value decreases. Depreciation is an accountancy tool used to calculate the falling value of capital assets over time. The assets of a business are an important factor in determining whether it is solvent. A business must have more assets or cash and capital than actual debts and loans. A business whose assets are less than it liabilities will not be able to trade. It is therefore important for the business to keep building its assets and reducing its debts.
Here is an example of physical resource table:
Quality
Quality control methods must be introduced in order to sustain customers to the business. If quality is to be maintained then I will have to monitor quality standards on a regular basis. This may be recorded upon statistical monitoring.
I will record on a regular basis the number of faults with any cupcake returned as a percentage of output. Furthermore the quality of the fridge will be examined so it’s in the best possible condition as this is where the cupcakes will be stored and this needs to be safe.
Customer feedback will be another method of quality control to investigate the number of satisfied customers.
It however is not just the quality of products being sold, the quality of service is needed to be at a high standard and punctuality needs to be high to allow the customers access at break times to decrease disappointment.
Quality assurance is based on the principle that if everyone is responsible for quality it is less likely there will be faults occurring along the way. This does away with the need to have a separate quality control function where faults are looked for in a negative and undermining way and puts quality at the heart of the role of every employee.
Quality is about what the customer expects from the product or service and its suitability to do the job. Expectations of quality depend on how much the customer is prepared to pay. The customer may judge the quality of the service on how well they are treated and judge the product on the same basis. Food served at a restaurant could be excellent, but if the service is appalling it is unlikely that the customer will return.
Financial resources
A business will need to have adequate capital to set up and buy equipment pay for premises. Money generated from the sales will help to pay for stock, components or raw materials, wages and salaries; and running costs such as heating and lighting, repairs and insurance. When business invoice their customers they may have to wait a month or more before they are paid. This can cause a cash flow problem, so businesses need to keep a close eye on debtors who own them money for too long.
Most business, including mine, borrows money to fund the growth of their business and to help with cash flow. There are different sources of finance from which a business can obtain funds,
- A mortgage might be used to buy premises
- A band loan, hire purchases or leasing agreements
- An overdraft is a flexible bank loan that can be used to help a business manage cash flow more effectively.
- Factoring, where a bank buys the debts of the business is also a good way to manage cash flow
- Venture capital is a longer-term loan that can be obtained from investment companies or merchant banks.
A bank will look very carefully at the way the business is managed before agreeing to borrow money for whatever purpose it is. For example, if my business is failing to please customers, is a safety hazard to others and myself and doesn’t meet to my aims and objectives, the bank will refuse to offer my business a loan and this will jeopardise my business. Sound management of cash flow is crucial, and making sure invoices are sent out on time and paid quickly is important. Keeping control of crisis is vital. Employing people is expensive, so making sure they perform well is critical especially during the times of the recession.
Due to the limited amount of expenditure to run the business and set up, I will not need to take out a bank loan, however in the future, if I needed to purchase a loan, I have researched leading banks offering loans which may be used in the future if still available:
How much do you want to borrow?
Min Max
£1,000 £20,000
For how many months?
Min Max
12 months 60 months
Results
Monthly Repayment:
£182.82
Loan Amount:
£2,000
Term:
12 months
APR:
18.9%
Total amount re-payable:
£2,193.84
Pest analysis
PEST analysis stands for "Political, Economic, Social, and Technological analysis" and describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management.
Political factors represent the way and the extent to which a government influences the economy and a certain business. Political factors are represented by specific areas, such as labour law, tax policy, tariffs, trade restrictions and even environmental law.
- Economic factors refer to areas unique to economy and directly influenced by economy or comprised by economy, areas such as inflation rate, interest rate, economic growth or exchange rates. All these areas can greatly influence a business or company, which makes them an extremely important part of the PESTLE analysis.
- Social factors mainly refer to demographic factors, which comprise factors like population growth rate, cultural aspects, age distribution and health consciousness.
- Technological factors refer to automation, incentives, the rate of technological change and R&D activity. These factors greatly influence other areas or aspects, including the minimum efficient production level, quality, costs and even outsourcing decisions.
- Legal factors refer to all the laws directly connected to a business/company and its area of activity, including consumer law, antitrust law, discrimination law and health and safety law.
- Environmental factors refer to all the factors directly related, influenced or determined by the surrounding environment. This includes, but is not limited to weather, climate, geographical position, climate change and even insurance. Environmental factors are crucial to industries such as farming or tourism and can greatly influence a company’s way to operate or even the products it offers.
This is usually created by using other that use
